{"id":9399,"date":"2026-02-26T00:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9399"},"modified":"2026-02-26T00:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:50:27","slug":"she-didnt-even-panic-thats-what-jack-hughes-said-about-his-mom-after-the-most-chaotic-moment-of-his-olympic-career-fresh-off-an-overtime-game-winning-goal-in-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9399","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShe didn\u2019t even panic.\u201d That\u2019s what Jack Hughes said about his mom after the most chaotic moment of his Olympic career. Fresh off an overtime game-winning goal in the U.S. men\u2019s hockey gold medal game, Jack Hughes was still processing the roar of history \u2014 and the fact that he had just lost his teeth on the ice in the collision that followed. Blood. Ice. Gold. But when he called home, Ellen Hughes was calm. Almost too calm. Instead of shock, she shared a story no one had ever heard before \u2014 about the first time Jack lost a tooth as a kid, long before arenas and overtime winners. According to Jack, she laughed and said, \u201cYou\u2019ve been leaving pieces of yourself on the ice your whole life.\u201d It wasn\u2019t just a hockey injury. It was a full-circle moment. From childhood milestones to Olympic gold, the reaction in that conversation said more than the scoreboard ever could. There\u2019s a clip of Jack describing it \u2014 and the way he smiles halfway through says everything."},"content":{"rendered":"

Could Jack Hughes go from gold medal to gold teeth?<\/p>\n

Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime in the United States\u2019 men\u2019s hockey team\u2019s gold medal game against Canada at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, giving the United States its first gold medal in men\u2019s hockey since 1980.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

His goal came after he lost some teeth when he was hit in the face by a stick from Canada\u2019s Sam Bennett in the third period. He said the first person to reach him after the injury was none other than his brother and Team USA teammate, Quinn Hughes.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny how things work out because the first guy closest to me when I\u2019m laying on the ice is obviously my older brother, and he has the puck, and you can see it, he\u2019s like, he\u2019s looking at me to see what\u2019s going on with my teeth,\u201d Jack Hughes said on TODAY while joining the show alongside his brother Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I remember him coming up to me and being like, \u2018It\u2019s all good, man. It\u2019s only chips. You\u2019re going to be OK,\u2019\u201d he recalled, drawing laughs from Carson Daly, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see him right there, and I saw his smile, and I was like, \u2018Uh oh, that doesn\u2019t look good,\u2019\u201d Quinn Hughes added.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

Carson also asked about the timeline to getting his teeth repaired and whether he\u2019d consider gold replacements.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has enough gold for it,\u201d Quinn Hughes chimed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny. Everyone in the media, everyone just wants to hear about my teeth, but I\u2019m ready to get these things fixed as soon as possible,\u201d Jack Hughes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut hockey players are so tough, like every single guy loses their teeth and plays through some of the things,\u201d he said, adding he\u2019s ready to \u201cget my smile back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Jack and Quinn\u2019s mother, Ellen Hughes, also appeared with her husband, Jim Hughes, on TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle Feb. 24. His mother said they\u2019ve been down this road before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time he lost a tooth, they were able to rebuild it and then he put a mouth guard in. I thought for sure the mouth guard would save him, but, obviously, I was wrong. He has such an infectious smile and hopefully they will get it back to the same level at some point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Earlier on TODAY, Ellen Hughes, who also serves as player development consultant for Team USA women\u2019s ice hockey, was asked which was more agonizing to watch: the hit on her middle son or his gold-clinching goal.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely watching him get in the face with a stick,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m so happy he wears a mouth guard. I can\u2019t even imagine how many more teeth he would have lost without a mouth guard. But it was right in front of us and I can tell you that Quinn, his brother, was on the ice and he saw the teeth go down,\u201d she said. \u201cWe saw him picking them up, and I was glad it was teeth and nothing more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you going to do? He\u2019ll have a good dentist. He\u2019ll get it fixed,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd what a moment.<\/p>\n

\"Quinn<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She also said she is still in awe that he would go on to score the goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he scored, I wasn\u2019t even sure it was he that scored,\u201d she said. \u201cFor my husband and I, for all the parents, it doesn\u2019t really matter who scores. It\u2019s about winning. And I know the women felt the same way. And it was just such a historic moment. It didn\u2019t matter who scored. It\u2019s so much fun to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could Jack Hughes go from gold medal to gold teeth? Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime in the United States\u2019 men\u2019s hockey team\u2019s gold medal… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9401,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399\/revisions\/9401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}